Forsaken
by Enth V
Summary: Freedom. A Clean Slate. A New Life. None of these things matter to him. All that matters is vengeance, and Herobrine will stop at nothing to get it. Based on the animation by NinjaCharlieT.
1. Prologue

The bottle fell to the ground and shattered. Not that its owner cared. The previous battle had taken a toll on his body, and he had barely won. The health potion he took was all he cared about, not its glass container. Devouring a loaf of bread, the warrior descended down stone-brick stairs, letting adrenaline subside. He closed his eyes and concentrated, picking out the energies of those on the battlefield. Hours ago, twelve of them fought to the death, in teams of three. Now only six remained, one of which his teammates. A flash in the scape of his meditation. Five remained. He was now the last of his team.

Opening the glowing white squares which gave him sight, he leisurely made his way to a nearby enemy. At the gate of the castle's entrance lay his next victim. The bleeding, dark gray figure didn't stand a chance, and they both knew that. Two red spider eyes closed, accepting death. As he snapped the Spider Queen's neck, Herobrine couldn't help but realize that he was imprisoned two days ago. Now he had a chance at freedom, not that he cared. A look at the Spider's crippling wound reminded him of the one reason he decided to be a part of this battle. A pretender, yet one who had done what he couldn't. The fallen brother's blood boiled at the thought of his nemesis. Then he smiled.

His vengeance was near.


	2. Released

**Chapter 1: Released**

20 Hours ago…

Herobrine woke, and was greeted to a never-ending darkness. It was a sight he had long since gotten used to. He grabbed at the bed-rock floor, and finally found the hilt of an iron sword. After the first century imprisoned, the minecraft ghost's captors had gifted him with an armor stand and a sword to entertain himself. The following century, they replaced the armor stand with a steel skeleton enchanted with life. The guards called it an automaton. Herobrine called it a broken scrap pile after he turned it into one. Every decade, he got a new one, so he began to ration his only source of entertainment. He fought with the drone every day, honing his skill. He figured that it would keep him a force to be reckoned with, even if it was a force that was contained. That, however, would be changed.

As the white-eyed man broke his fifty-ninth automaton, the sound of pistons pushing and redstone activating filled his cell. Light filled the room as one of the walls revealed a tunnel. Out of the tunnel came three Minecraftians. Two wore identical blue armor, and held enchanted diamond swords. A hundred years ago, Herobrine had been surprised to discover they were the standard equipment for all Minecraftians. The third visitor, however, wasn't a guard. He wore the clothing of a ninja, and had green, piercing eyes.

"Hmmm. A civilian," Herobrine noted, "Who are you, and what do you want?"

The guards raised their weapons at the fallen brother's hostile tone, but the ninja gestured for them to lower them.

"It's less what I want, and more if you want what I'm about to propose," the ninja said.

Herobrine raised an eyebrow at the statement, "Go on."

"My name is Hypixel, and I offer freedom to you."

Even after centuries without socialising, Herobrine knew that the ninja was hiding something. No one but his brother would go through the trouble of meeting him, and he had heard from a guard ninety years ago that his brother was dead. There was a catch, and Herobrine wouldn't be surprised if this was a trick to purge the world of those considered evil by society.

"I won't go. There is something you're not telling me."

Hypixel looked shocked, "That is not what I was expecting."

"You expect me to trust someone I just met when I'm the one infamous for turning on my own brother? How do you expect someone to trust you, when they lost trust from their own blood?"

"You raise a fair point," Hypixel admitted, "Though I was expecting you would leap at a chance to get back at us humans."

Again, Herobrine shocked him, "I have long since lost my hatred for your kind. All that remained was hatred for my brother. He is dead."

Hypixel wanted Herobrine to go. Everything in had turned out perfectly, until this point. The white-eyed man was far older, and thus more knowledgeable, than the others Hypixel had chosen. The ninja was starting to lose his patience, until he realized what Herobrine wanted, and how he could use it to his advantage.

"You wished to kill your brother in vengeance, correct?"

"Indeed."

Herobrine didn't need to see Hypixel's face to know he had a smile upon it.

"The one who killed your brother has joined us," Hypixel said.

Herobrine suddenly felt an intense anger the likes of which he hadn't felt since his betrayal. He clenched his fist, and barely could contain the urge to smash whatever was in front of him to the ground. This was Hypixel's play, he realized. It didn't matter.

"If you were to do the same, it would put you closer to the possibility of revenge," Hypixel suggested, "So, what do you say?"

Herobrine's mind was split. The rational part of his thoughts wasn't sure to take the risk. Herobrine wasn't known to be rational. Since his capture, he had been nothing but a beast of vengeance. He had waited for centuries for a moment like this. He had made his choice.

"I'm in."


	3. Initiation

The following day, Herobrine was escorted by a group of Hypixel's men for the initiation. Before leaving, Hypixel had told him he had to prove his worth to be a part of what he had planned. The white-eyed man knew it wouldn't be too hard. He and his escort reached a room with a metal bed in it. Three men wearing doctor's clothing were inside, prepping some sort helmet. No sign of a challenge.

"Sir, lie on the bed," one of the soldiers said, "Then wait for further instruction."

Herobrine could've killed him for his attitude. He'd killed for less. Instead, he simply did what he was told. One of the doctors, a testificate, came up to him, holding the helmet. It had a mask of a sort, with glowing green lights at the eyes.

"This helmet will put you into a sleep, and will alter your brain waves to create a dream," the testificate said, "The dream will prove to be a simulation to see how well you can fight, not that it would be a question."

The white-eyed man nodded, and regulated his breath as the mask was put on his head. Herobrine felt his consciousness slip away, before having it thrown back at him. When he opened his eyes, he was greeted to a sight he hadn't seen in many centuries; his throne room. Nether brick and moss stone were illuminated by the dim crimson of redstone torches. His old seat of power lay in the centre, gold shining. Sat on it was an old foe.

Wearing diamond armor, Herobrine's mirror stood up. In place of glowing white eyes, two normal blue ones stared at the fallen brother with disdain. Strapped to his back, an enchanted diamond sword with a golden hilt shimmered with power. Herobrine figured the helmet the testificate gave him had looked into his past for a perfect foe. It had chosen well.

"Steve," Herobrine growled.

Steve made no response, and instead took his sword from his back and took a combat form. Without thinking, Herobrine conjured a diamond sword of his own and took the same form. The mirrors glared at each other, analysing each other for openings. With a war cry, the two rushed each other.

Sparks flew as the two swords clashed. Herobrine pushed back Steve with godly strength, the Minecraftian hero sliding across the floor to the foot of the Nether throne. Herobrine continued on the offensive, swinging his sword for it to only dig into solid gold. The fallen brother pulled his blade out of his throne just in time to block a retaliating blade from Steve. The Minecraftian hero swung again, but the blade met air as Herobrine dodged to Steve's left. Steve's sword met Herobrine's again, but the white-eyed man pushed him again. Steve switched to his bow and quickly shot an arrow. The arrow was blocked by Herobrine, who began to rush to meet Steve. Arrow after arrow flew, but they did nothing to stop the fallen brother, who's sword glowed with divine power. Herobrine could've used any of his powers, but the one that came to his mind was a blast of godly lightning. Stabbing and releasing the bolt at the same time, Herobrine yelled as his target disappeared in a flash of white. When the brightness dissipated, all that was left of Steve was a charred corpse.

Herobrine pulled his blade out of the corpse. The white eyed man realised that the simulation had only taken the appearance of his nemesis. Even with the practice he had done in the many centuries, it should't have been so easy to defeat Steve. He had been defeated by him before. The throne room rumbled like an earthquake, snapping Herobrine out of his thoughts.

 _The simulation_ , he thought.

He closed his eyes, his consciousness returning to the real world.


	4. Foundation

Herobrine was expecting two different things when he woke up. He assumed that either everything would be as it was prior to his nap or back in his cell. When he woke, he was in a different room, lying on a metal sheet. To his surprise, no one was in the room with him. The white-eyed man stood up, and looked around the room for anything other than stone walls. All he found was a single torch lighting the room and a wooden door. Finding no other course of action, Herobrine opened the door and walked through the gateway.

The room he found himself in was luxurious in nature. Wool couches were arranged in living room patterns. Tables surrounded a fountain, food of all cuisines served on their wooden surfaces.. A large chandelier illuminated the lounge, the light stopping by each of the entrances. Despite all this, Herobrine was interested to those occupying it.

When the white-eyed man was defeated all those years ago, many of his lieutenants went into hiding. In the course of the next centuries, they had tried to finish what their master could not. Herobrine recognized the first zombie he had resurrected, the one that had become his general, sat on one of the couches. Decay, he had named him. He was in conversation with the first Creeper. Herobrine struggled to remember the name he had given him.

"Blitz, you had named him," a female voice said, "Of course you would forget about Blitz. Did you forget me?"

Looking up, Herobrine recognized another of his subordinates. Only one of them he had tolerated for disrespect.

"Sometimes, I wish I did, Flare," Herobrine replied.

The Queen of the Blazes descended to meet Herobrine. Her bright gold face glowed, her red eyes intense. The fallen brother had seen many a foe tremble under her glare. Not him though.

"I take it your brother is with you?"

"Tusks is having his fill of the banquet Hypixel gave us. I suppose it is in his nature. Pigs need food. Pigmen need feasts."

"Who else was released?"

"I didn't keep tabs on the rest of them. If they were released, we'll see them."

Herobrine closed his eyes, focusing for any other energy signatures. It was a trait he had used often in the past, using it to see the world outside his cell. He could tell the slight differences between twins by looking into their auras. After a few minutes meditating, a familiar aura entered the room. An aura with a story, a story Herobrine had heard from the guards.

"Flare, you might want to leave. Arachne keeps chilly company."

As Herobrine watched the Queen of the Spiders enter, his mind grabbed at the information the guards had told him. Arachne had incorporated into a human society fifty years after Herobrine's defeat. The king of an isolated country in the south took pity on her, and since then Arachne had felt attraction to him. They had gotten married and started a family when the rest of Minecraftia invaded their land. Minecraftia had disagreed with the way the Southern Icelands worked, and decided to dethrone its 'tyrant'. There was no doubt in Herobrine's mind what Hypixel had offered to them.

As Arachne looked around trying to find her husband, Herobrine sensed a type of aura he hadn't predicted to encounter in a prison. Turning around, the fallen brother saw two black eyes glaring at him. Above them, covering the newcomer's forehead, a furry hood resembling a wolf's head sat. The newcomer's glare cooled into a simple gaze.

"It would seem you are not as dark as I thought," he said.

"If we had met two and a half century ago, you may have found what you were looking for," Herobrine replied, "Why would a noble Shaman such as yourself be captured and thrown into a maximum security prison?"

The nature defender replied, "Defending the land I swore to protect, as well as the creatures inside it. As far as I know, all that remains of it is a barren wasteland."

The white-eyed man's eyes lit up, realizing who this man was, "You were the one who defended Tusks?"

The shaman looked to the pigman with a smile on his face, "I am. Where others saw a bloodthirsty monster, I saw a damaged creature. A creature I could fix."

"And fix you did. He is far more tame than he was under my control."

The mage looked back at the fallen brother, "I don't think I've introduced myself. I am Kaeton. And you are a lost soul by the name of Herobrine. If we survive this, perhaps I can help you."

Herobrine was about to thank him, but his reply changed as he sensed a dark aura behind him, "You will not need your help."

The fallen brother turned to meet the newcomer, "All I need is your death, Null."

The being in front of him wore a light purple cloak. It was carried on two legs of thick bone. A pair of skeleton arms protruded past the cloak's sleeves, crossed over a revealed ribcage instead of a chest. A skull replaced the being's head.

A rasping noise like laughter came out of the skull, "Hehe, Null is gone. I go by Dreadlord now, Herobrine. Hypixel told me that if I were to survive, the name would hide my identity, as well as intimidate others. Can't have the murderer of Notch walking around, after all."

Herobrine roared, grabbing the spinal cord-neck of Null and pulled the dark entity up. The darkness that Null radiated chilled Herobrine's hand, but the white-eyed brother couldn't feel it. The rage within him, boiling reason and destroying rationality.

White eyes glared into darkness, "My brother was mine to kill. Mine alone!"

Herobrine flung Null across the room, interrupting a reunion on the other side. An armored man dived out of the way, saving himself and Arachne from the bone-cannonball that was the Dreadlord. The bulky automaton, the armored man's guard, wasn't as lucky. The golem was smashed into the wall with Dreadlord, a dust cloud flying out. Red eyes looked to see Herobrine striding to meet his enemy, energy radiating out of him. While Arachne felt fear, in the corner of her vision she saw someone who wasn't. That was what terrified her.

"Watch it!" the Arcanist yelled, "You think you can throw a bomb of dark magic at my wife, my prized golem, and myself and not pay for it?!"

Herobrine growled as he summoned a diamond blade to his side, "Step aside, mortal. Do not interfere, lest you pay the price."

"You arrogant-"

"Stop!"

Both warriors turned to Arachne, who had steeled her face to confront both her husband and her old master. The fallen brother and the sorcerer took a final glare at each other, then calmed themselves. When she saw they had both dropped hostility, The queen of the spiders pulled away her husband from the white-eyed man.

"I am sorry, master. Darius is just protective of me. He didn't mean to offend you," she reasoned.

"I am no longer your master," Herobrine replied calmly, before turning to 'Darius', "You should thank your wife, sorcerer. Had she not interfered, you would've joined Null in that wall."

"Dreadlord!"

Herobrine took a combat stance again, turning to his foe. Null had pulled himself out of the wall , his assistants at his side. Darius' golem was still in the concrete, but didn't seem bothered by it. A tall dark humanoid and a skeleton in chain armor glared at the fallen brother, as if they weren't his creations. At seeing them, an animalistic growl escaped Herobrine's throat.

"Traitors."

"Not really. They were the most loyal of your lieutenants," Null said back, "Shade and Fracture followed your final orders, to avenge you and kill any human they met. That is what led them to me."

Herobrine rushed Null again, yelling out a battle cry. The shadow lord jumped out of the way, and landed behind Herobrine. The white-eyed man threw his sword on the ground, blowing back everyone nearby and cracking the ground. Null jumped back again, the rasping laughter he made echoing in the room.

"Why do you hate me, Herobrine? Your brother threw you in here. I killed him. What does it matter to you?"

"He wronged me, and I was to pay him in kind. You killed him, now you will take the punishment in his place."

"Enough!"

The familiar voice reverberated through the walls. Everyone looked to the entrances for their addresser. Herobrine attempted to find his aura, but could not.

"You will have your fight. But not now," The voice assured.

"Show yourself, Hypixel!" Darius demanded to the walls.

A loud whizzing sound filled the room before Hypixel replied, "Here."

All eyes followed the voice to the center of the room. The fountain at the center had been drained of water, and a blue hologram of Hypixel was being projected from an iron podium. The fountain's stone borders sunk into the ground, the floor of the fountain turning into a cyan lantern. The food tables descended into the floor and were replaced by iron blocks. The empty space inside the iron borders were then filled with a diamond-blue light.

Those in the room surrounded the table. Some looked upon Hypixel's image with hate, some with curiosity, and some with impatience. Herobrine figured that this was the briefing for whatever mission, job or simulation they had in front of them.

"I know all of you have a lot of questions," Hypixel said, "The following briefing will hopefully answer those questions."

"Then get on with it," was Darius' reply.

Hypixel sighed, then did as he was told, "Every single one of you has the potential to be Minecraftia's hero. We are currently facing a threat the likes of which have never been seen before. Unfortunately, only three of you can be released, lest the main population be brought more panic than they already have."

"We have picked each of you because you because of your skill, and your ability to work with two others in this room. A few of you have already figured out who works with who, and pinpointed those you know you can work with."

A blue screen appeared at Hypixel's right, displaying the teams. The groups were divided by color. Team Red was composed of Null, Shade and Fracture, the former most nodding in approval. Team Blue, to no one's surprise, was made up of Darius, his Golem bodyguard, and Arachne. Team Yellow was the least connected, Tusks being the only one with connections with both other members. The team was formed by Kaeton, Tusks and Flare. Herobrine's team, Green, had him partnered with Blitz and Decay. He hoped they were as skilled as he remembered.

The light below Hypixel's hologram shifted into a three-dimensional model of a castle. Two staircases led to its entrance, a large gateway. Directly in front of it was a large patch of grown wheat, ready for harvest. A cave to its right was barely supported by thin wooden stilts. To the wheat patch's left was a large oak tree. The whole compound was sealed by walls on one side, and mountains on the rest.

"Each team will receive a castle like this one as a home base. Food is supplied in the form of wheat, and mineral resources can be obtained from the mine to the castle's right. Wood for any additional structures you may want to construct can be harvested from the oak tree to the castle's left," Hypixel explained.

The view point of the hologram shifted, entering through the gateway and into the castle. Inside was a large room. At the center was a staircase leading downwards. At the right corner was a staircase leading up to the second floor, in front of it was a free space with decayed flooring. A flashing blue hologram flashed on top of the taint, and stopped blinking to reveal a hologram of a Wither.

"Each team has a hologram of a Wither to defend. The simulation will compute when the Wither has taken enough damage to die. When a team's Wither falls, they are vulnerable to dying for good. If you die in the simulation, you will die in real life."

The view point shifted again, showing the view if one were to look from the gateway of the castle to the walls. A red barrier loomed pass the smaller castle walls.

"These barriers will stop your team from leaving and from other teams to enter during the start of the game. When the barriers fall, be ready," Hypixel explained, "The other teams will come for your Wither, and you should be prepared to defend it."

A green hand rose up from the crowd.

"Null and Master Herobrine are much stronger than us. How can the rest of us hope to survive?" asked Decay.

"In the spirit of fairness, each competitor will be restricted to only certain set of abilities. In accordance with the power and rate of use of each ability, competitors will also be given different sets of equipment."

"Once the simulation begins, you have will have ten hours before the barriers fall to take any resources you need and construct defenses. When all Withers have fallen, Deathmatch will begin. Those not in the center will begin to starve. Unless they return to the surface of the center, they will eventually die. This will force the remaining survivors into contact, and thus, combat. The survivors of the last remaining team will be given all that was promised to them, as well as freedom and a job as a General in the Minecraftian army," Hypixel concluded.

"Are you ready to begin?"

All the competitors looked to each other, "Yes."

Simulation helms warped onto each of the competitor's heads in a flash of purple. Their lights glowed the color of each of the warrior's respective teams. A loud humming sound filled all of their ears.

"Good luck," Hypixel said, before they all sunk into the simulation.


	5. Fortified

Green Base

9 hours and 59 minutes till the barrier falls.

Herobrine woke with a groan, getting up from a stone brick floor. Opening his eyes, he saw that he and his team were in a room to the side of the castle grounds. From the window of the castle, a three black skulls looked at him. The Wither's glowing eyes seemed to analyze the fallen brother and his underlings. Averting his eyes, Herobrine found three chests in a row. Each of the chests had one of the Green Team's member's faces on it. Herobrine opened his chest and retrieved the items within, his team doing the same.

In his chest, the white-eyed man found a diamond blade, an iron helmet, and a diamond pickaxe, all of them glowing with enchantments. Alongside them were three steaks, two health potions and two speed potions. Putting on his helmet, Herobrine looked to his right, looking at his co-workers.

Decay had a glowing diamond chestplate, a large bottle filled with a potion of health in his left hand, two speed potions in each of his pants' pockets. Blitz wore an enchanted diamond leggings, hooks on the waistline. Two health potions and two speed potions were hooked on them. Both of them held glowing diamond pickaxes and had identical iron blades on their backs.

Decay looked to Herobrine, "What are your orders?"

Herobrine looked to the castle, then replied, "Decay, you are on defense. Make walls, expand the lake to make it a moat, whatever you feel is useful. Blitz, begin mining. We will need the iron and cobblestone. I will harvest the wheat, then join you. Time is of the essence!"

Yellow Base

8 hours and 50 minutes till the barrier falls.

Flare stuffed her last stack into her furnace. Standing up, she looked to the hill next to the spawn area. Where two trees once stood, twenty furnaces glowed. The two trees were now being used to make walls by Tusks. A chest by the spawn area was being filled with resources by Kaeton. The shaman had been a unknown to the Blaze Queen. Despite what he had done for her brother, Flare didn't trust him. Every sense in her body told her that the shaman was hiding something. She simply had to find out what.

Kaeton took four loaves of bread out of the stack he had been emptying into the resource chest. He walked up stone-brick stairs and onto a wooden platform Tusks had built into the staircase. The platform was a bridge which connected to built to a tall tower. Inside, Tusks sat on a wooden block, tired from his work. The diamond sword he had received from his starting kit leaned on the wall, and his diamond chestplate sat next to it.

"Here," Kaeton called, offering the loaves of bread, "Take these."

Tusks took the bread with the closing thing he could make to a smile, and began munching on his new food.

"Thank you," Tusks said, "How's the rest of the supplies?"

"The iron is smelting. We have more than enough for armor, and we may even have some spare to reinforce our walls," the shaman replied, "We have a stack of bread, counting the four I gave you. Flare and myself unearthed eight chests each, and we have a two dozen fish, cooked, sixteen steaks not counting our kits, and sixteen whole chickens."

"That's good."

It was at this moment that Flare entered the room. She took time to admire her brother's work. The openings in the walls big enough for only an arrow to pass. From those openings, she could tell that there were two layers to the tower, cobblestone and wooden planks. Doorways on both sides led to thick walls, which blocked off both entrances. The walls had four layers to them; cobblestone fencing, dirt, wooden planks, and wooden fences. Kaeton had planned for a fifth layer of iron ore, but it had yet to be added.

"Good of you to join us, sister," Tusks welcomed, snapping her out of her thoughts. She nodded in reply.

"How is the iron smelting?" Kaeton asked.

"Halfway done," Flare replied, no sign of her distrust to be heard, "We may need more coal, though."

"Alright then," Kaeton said, "Should we begin crafting our armor?"

"We have more than enough time," Flare replied, "But there is no reason not to."

"Very well," Kaeton stood up, "Tusks, continue to rest. You have done enough for now. Flare, lets go."

Blue Base

6 hours till the barrier falls.

Darius finished crafting his iron helm, its design like the one he wore before his capture. Placing it upon his head, the Arcanist looked to his lieutenant. The Golem nodded, and returned him his sword. With another nod, Golem took a stack of wooden planks and ran off to continue building their wall. As it was, the Blue Team's wall was a simple, four layer five block tall wooden structure. Wood blocks at the castle side of the wall served as a staircase upwards. On the other side of the wall was a large trench, making anyone who was looking to build their way pass the wall have more trouble.

A blur leapt over the wooden wall, a shovel in hand. Arachne had discovered two of her functioning abilities; her spider leap and her ability to find concentrated iron in dirt. The Spider Queen looked to her husband with a smile.

"Dug till I hit stone," she said, "Doubt anyone but me could make it pass."

She took a step forward and admired Darius' armor, "You look nice."

"You do to," was the Arcanist's warm reply, "How much iron did you collect?"

"Enough that we could recycle some iron ore for the underground path."

"That's good," Darius stated, "Do you think the other teams discovered the underground?"

"I don't think the Yellow Team would find out. The Shamans always did stay on the surface. I'm sure Decay would've found out. He always did like caves. Fracture might as well, but his skills are better used up top."

The couple had made their way up the staircase and began descending to the underground path. They began their work, sealing up the path. Wooden planks and iron ore slowly filled the tunnel, blocking the way to the outside world.

"So, Darius," Arachne began, "Have you put any thought into plans for our post-victory?"

A pause. The Arcanist stopped placing blocks, halted by thought, before answering, "Not really. All I've got in mind is returning home. Silk would be thrilled to see us again."

"And her children," Arachne added with a smile.

"Silk had children?" Darius asked in surprise.

"You weren't the only one promised to me by Hypixel," The Spider Queen laughed, turning to her spouse, "A son, carbon copy of you. Daughter, your magic my personality and spirit."

Darius smiled, "I have grandchildren. Never thought I'd see the day."

"We will," Arachne replied, looking into her lover's eyes, "We will endure."

Green Base

4 hours and 30 minutes till the barrier falls

Herobrine was with his team, formulating a plan of attack when the barrier flickered. The fallen brother had noticed instantly, and he and his team rushed to the barrier and found a new chest. It was like the chest which contained their kits, only where their respective faces would've been, a lower case i was displayed.

"Information?" Blitz guessed.

Herobrine opened the chest without regarding his subordinate. An iron pedestal of sorts sprouted up form the chest. Its top glowed like the fountain in the lounge, and like the fountain, a hologram appeared. However, the being in the hologram wasn't Hypixel. He was a ninja like Hypixel, but had purple clothing rather than Hypixel's black. Red eyes looked to the Green Team in place of emerald ones.

"Sorry Hypixel couldn't be here," the new ninja excused, "He has been occupied in other matters."

Decay growled the question everyone had on their minds, "Who are you?"

"Oh. How rude. I forgot to introduce myself," the ninja said, not regarding the first zombie's tone, "My name is CharlieT. I am the creator of this simulation, and this recorded message will inform you of previously unknown locations in the map as well as new changes just made to the simulation."

Herobrine looked to his allies. Blitz took out a piece of stone and a sharpened piece of iron, which they were using to take notes. Whilst taxing, they had no paper to substitute, and Herobrine insisted on organizing their information prior to the creation of battle plans.

"Whilst Hypixel already told you of your castles and the barrier, he did not tell you of the center of this map."

CharlieT's hologram was replaced by a hologram of the simulation battlefield. When Hypixel had shown the map, the center had been a barren flatland. Now, four trees near the corner were rooted, and four flags were displayed in front of each base. At the core of the central area was a four block tall platform of stone brick. On it, though covered in ice, was a large rock with diamonds protruding from it.

"As you can see, diamonds are up for grabs in the middle. Though few in numbers, an extra piece of diamond equipment would make it harder for you or your teammates to be killed."

Small logs barely noticeable were highlighted in yellow. They glowed

"These ladders can be used for a quick escape underground. If you find yourself cornered, you could escape through here."

The map hologram disappeared, and CharlieT took its place again.

"As for the changes in the simulation. You and your enemies' Withers have received a large boost in strength and endurance. They are now capable of using multiple abilities, like causing lightning to exterminate attackers and the ground to shake, causing massive damage to them. When they die, your enemies will be vulnerable to a final kill, like before, but now, as the game progresses, some of your enemies' abilities will find their way to you. Just to encourage a faster game."

"That's about it," CharlieT concluded, "I hope this information helped you, I look forward to seeing those of you that survive. For now, good luck."

After the newcomer's speech, the iron pedestal sunk into the chest, which then descended into the ground. The members of Green Team looked to each other. Blitz had taken out three extra stone tablets to note down the new information.

"So," Decay started, "New plan?"

Yellow Base

2 Hours and 15 minutes remaining.

Flare had crafted her final iron chestplate and stored it when Kaeton's question popped up, "Why don't you trust me?"

The blaze jolted in surprise, and turned to the shaman. She had expected the cold stare of an interrogator, and possibly a drawn sword, but instead found a calm gaze from Kaeton, who held a fresh iron helmet. The neutral expression made Flare's rage build.

"It isn't obvious?" she spat out, "I don't care who you say you are. You are not to be trusted."

"And there is nothing I can do to earn you trust?"

Flare turned her back on the shaman, "Stop hiding yourself. Your true self."

"I can't say I know what you are talking about," Kaeton said, "Can you explain?"

With a roar of rage, Flare turned back at him, "That is what I am talking about!" "

The Blaze Queen lashed out at Kaeton with the diamond pickaxe from her kit. The shaman blocked the strike with his sword, but underestimated Flare's strength. As a result, he was brought to one knee, and the blade was knocked out of his hands. Thinking fast, he held up the iron helmet like a shield. But it did nothing to stop the onslaught of Flare.

"You act like you are so perfect, so innocent!" she screamed in rage, "If so, then why the hell are you here?! If you're so noble, then why have you been thrown into this pit with the rest of us? You may fool others, but not me. You are evil!"

With a final strike, the iron helm finally caved in and shattered. The pickaxe kept going, and broke through Kaeton's right shoulder-plate. The metal plating was ripped from the chestplate, and wolf fur below it followed. With a yell of pain, the shaman was knocked to the ground, his right arm fully exposed, and with it, his secret. As Flare caught her breath and recovered from her episode, she noticed the marking. A black, burnt pattern of scars contrasted to Kaeton's skin.

With a grunt, Kaeton propped himself on his right elbow.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" he asked.

Flare nodded before replying with a question of her own, "What is it?"

Kaeton looked to his shoulder with sadness, "A mark of shame."

He stood up and continued, "We shamans are entrusted to keep our land safe. Pure. Untouched by evil. You can guess how I broke that oath."

With a sigh, Kaeton looked to the wall area, watching Tusks add to their wall a layer of iron ore. He looked back to Flare and returned to the discussion, "When my old friends found out that I was harboring one of Herobrine's lieutenants, they invaded my land in an attempt to 'do what I could not.' When I forced them out, they returned with the might of Minecraftia. Before they handed me over to the Minecraftian authorities, they burned this mark into my shoulder as a sign of my 'failure."

"You helped my brother out of the goodness of your heart," Flare finally realized.

Kaeton chuckled, "And that got me here, with the rest of you."

The Queen of the Blazes suddenly found interest in the grass she stood on. Shame filled her entire being, threatening to force tears out of her eyes. In a last ditch effort to stop them, she closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she finally said, her voice shaking.

A hand on her shoulder forced her to open her eyes in suprise, "I accept your apology."

Looking up with watering eyes, Flare found Kaeton smiling at her, his eyes filled with forgiveness.

"How?" she asked, making no effort to contain her emotions.

"I may not be considered a shaman by most, but I am still a shaman at heart," Kaeton replied, "We help people, not condemn them. After all, we are a team now. If we survive this, we will need each other in the war Hypixel has for us. For that, we will need trust."

Flare managed to smile gratefully before wiping away the tears in her eyes.

"Thank you," she finally said.

"You are welcome," the shaman replied, "Now let's help your brother, shall we? Time is running out, and soon war will be upon us."

Red Base

4 minutes remaining

Null looked to his allies with pride as they stood at the premade fortifications of the castle. Fracture stood on the walls above the gate, his bow at the ready. The Dreadlord looked to his right, watching Shade sharpen his sword with a spare piece of iron they couldn't find a use for. All of them were decked with armor, the steel and diamond glowing in the sun.

Over the course of the past ten hours, they had barricaded the fort's gate with wood, cobblestone, and leftover iron blocks. Though no wall had been constructed, the castle's lake had been extended to provide a deep moat. The idea was that Fracture would be able to snipe invaders as they struggled through the current.

"Master," Shade regarded, snapping Null out of his thoughts, "Who shall we assault first?"

The answer was clear in the Dreadlord's mind, "Your old master wishes me dead. The best defence is offence, and we shall wipe him out before he can do so!"

He turned to Fracture, who had an arrow ready to fire.

"Fracture, you're on defence. No one gets in. Have those explosive arrows at the ready for the bulky targets."

The lord of darkness turned to the barrier, watching the energy wall slowly dissipate. The center area was barely visible to the Red Team, but the silhouette of the central diamond crystal was visible. The Dreadlord turned to his team and raised his diamond blade high in the air with a war-cry. His team returned the cheer, raising their weapons. Fracture had three arrows ready for firing, the middle one being explosive. Shade got into a running start position, a speed potion in his right hand. Null did the same. _So it begins,_ the lord of Darkness thought. The barrier glowed and flickered, and he knew that the time of peace was over.

War had begun, and the warriors of Darkness would be the ones to start it.


	6. Convergence

Null and Shade shot off, dirt flying from their start points. The duo sped to the center, a cloud of blue surrounding both of them. The speed potions did their work as they zoomed to the crystal. From the left, the Dreadlord could see his nemesis and his lieutenant rush to the center, running at a pace that rivaled their own. To the right, the Arcanist and the Spider Queen ran at a more delayed pace, which confused the Dreadlord. Not that he cared. Their problem that they wouldn't get a chance at the game-changing gems.

Shade quickly built a dirt staircase to the platform below the crystal, and the Red Team quickly ascended. As soon as he did, his blade instinctively was raised to block Herobrine's sword. The fallen brother growled as he pushed Null back. Meanwhie, Shade and Decay had engaged in a battle for the diamonds, the latter barely parrying Shade's strike with his sword and leaving his diamond pickaxe embedded into one of the ores.

Herobrine pushed with all his strength, sending Null back to the edge of the platform. The Dreadlord struggled with his balance, leaning forward to stay on the platform, but was slashed off by the fallen brother. White eyes saw two new enemies appear, as Tusks and Flare slowly crept, hoping to sneak off with the diamonds.

Jumping over Decay, who was still in battle with Shade, Herobrine pulled his sword back, aiming for a strike against Tusks. The pigman was oblivious to his attack, breaking through the layer of ice stopping his progress. Luckily for him, someone else did. Flare released a flaming arrow at her former master, the projectile melting through Herobrine's armor and embedding into his shoulder. Herobrine didn't stop, only grunting in pain, before diverting his path to the Blaze Queen.

Tusks, still oblivious, broke through the ice and started breaking the ore. Grinning at the blue gem embedded in the stones before him, the pigman raised his pickaxe. A flash of blue light interrupted him. His smile quickly contorted into a scowl as he saw from the other side of the clear ice an armored figure holding a glowing diamond sword in one hand, and a set of diamonds in the other.

A cry of help called the pigman's attention, "A little help here, Tusks!"

Flare was on the ground, barely blocking Herobrine's sword with her own. She was bleeding from a wound on the side of her stomach, and her left forearm had a gash running through it. The fallen brother had murder in his pale eyes, a haze of red surrounding him. Shade bleeding body lay a few blocks to the right, an arm of the edge. The enderman's eyes were pale and without color, lifeless. Decay was no where to be seen.

Herobrine turned his right as soon as the cry had been made, seeing Tusks brandish his sword. He stomped on Flare's wound, causing her to yelp in agony as more pain shocked her system. With the sister to weak to continue, Herobrine dashed to the pigman, strength coursing in his veins. Tusks blocked with his own sword, but was knocked into the crystal by Herobrine's power. The hollow ice fell down onto the platform with a crash.

A whooshing sound filled the air as Herobrine menacingly walked to his fallen foe. The sound confused the fallen brother, until he saw a reflection in the ice. Looking up, white eyes saw Arachne in the sky, descending in rapid speeds. Herobrine quickly turned the other direction and ran as fast as he could. Jumping of the platform, Herobrine heard a loud boom as the Spider Queen's drop shattered the center area, sending shocks down the fallen brother's nervous system.

 _Flare and Tusks are down for sure,_ Herobrine thought, looking at the smoking ruin of the platform, _Arachne must be low from that fall damage, too._

Turning from the platform, he saw in the distance a two on one on one occurring in the distance. Darius and his Golem fought against Decay, who was barely holding them off with his healing ability. Null fought both sides, launching what Herobrine saw to be wither skulls at the Blues whilst blocking Decay's sword. Despite the far distance, Herobrine could see shining blue dots on Darius' waist. The diamonds from the platform.

 _I have my priorities set,_ Herobrine concluded.

* * *

Decay had barely dodged an arcane ball of energy from the Arcanist when the Golem's sword descended on him. The iron blade didn't penetrate Decay's diamond chestplate, but the slash knocked him to the ground. The golem was about to finish the job when a diamond blade intercepted iron. Null flicked his sword upwards, sending the Golem's blade flying in the air. In quick succession, the Dreadlord swept his sword down, an audible swipe piercing the air. The sword embedded itself in the Golem's shoulder. The joint was severed when Null then launched a wither skull straight into the enchanted automaton's body. All that was left of the Golem was a severed arm on the ground.

Decay then heard a loud whining noise, earning his attention. Turning, Decay saw the Arcanist charging up a large beam. Without thinking, Decay threw his sword at Darius. The blade distracted Darius, the Arcanist being forced to delay his spell as he dodged out of the way. He quickly got up and assumed a combat stance to counter the charging zombie, a pickaxe in his hand. Before Decay could reach him, a blade protruded from his chest.

Null put aside the undead corpse, a red cloud surrounding him. The Dreadlord threw two wither skulls at the Arcanist, making a rasping growl before following them. Darius back flipped, escaping the blast and quickly getting up to intercept Null's diamond blade with his own. Null's strength forced Darius back, the Arcanist sliding back. As the red haze surrounding Null dissipated, the dark entity drank a speed potion. Darius took this time to charge up his laser again. As Null charged, the dirt flying behind him, Darius fired.

Null's chestplate was melted as soon as it made contact with the laser. Recoiling, Null's blade changed position from ready-to-stab to guarding his now exposed chest. It wasn't enough, as Darius drove his blade into Null's sternum, blood painting his sword. Null weakly rasped, and attempted to raise his sword. Darius' reaction was to blast the dark entity with another laser, reducing his form to a smoking skeleton and steaming pieces of armor.

Exhaling in exhaustion, Darius let the smoking corpse fall to the ground. An audible swipe was heard, and the Arcanist instinctively turned around and raised his blade. Sure enough, the diamond sword had caught another, blocking its strike. White eyes glared at blue as Herobrine pushed the Arcanist back. Knowing he wouldn't win this battle of strength, Darius backed up to a reasonable distance.

"I never did get to fight you earlier," Darius noted, "You actually might pose a challenge for me."

"You have something that could guarantee my survival and my vengeance," Herobrine replied, "I would offer to not kill you in exchange for those diamonds, but I already know your answer. I'll make this quick."

The fallen brother lunged at his opponent, his blade glowing. Darius blocked, his sword radiating light as well. Darius pushed his opponent back, and followed it up with a laser blast. Herobrine ducked as he sprinted back to his opponent. As he looked up, Darius slashed upwards with is sword. The sword cut through Herobrine's armor and drew blood. The fallen brother fell on his back, grunting as he hit the ground.

As Darius raised his blade for the final blow, Herobrine quickly stood up and stabbed the Arcanist in the stomach. Blood dripped from the wound. Lightning followed. Darius yelled in pain as he was burnt alive by high voltage. When the light and smoke cleared, the Arcanist was in a similar state to Null; a smoking set of armor.

With a sigh of exhaustion, Herobrine let the Arcanist's corpse fall to the ground with a thud. The fallen brother fell on one knee, partly in fatigue, but more so to collect the prize he had fought for. Scooping the diamonds up, Herobrine got up and exhaled again, the red cloud of strength around him. A cry of anguish caught his attention, followed by a whooshing sound. Herobrine was too late this time.

Out of the sky, Arachne dropped like a bomb, and exploded like one upon contact with the ground. Herobrine was knocked away, his battered body taking even more damage. Leaning on his sword for support, the white-eyed man rose to one knee before having a blade to his throat. Looking up, Herobrine saw Arachne's face, red eyes filled with as much rage as they were grief. She was less damaged than Herobrine, but the crash had taken a toll on her as well.

"Concede," she shakily said, the weariness in her voice only surpassed by her contained emotions.

Herobrine coughed up blood as he chuckled, "This is a simulation. You should've killed me when you had the chance."

In one fluid motion, Herobrine swat away Arachne's sword and jumped up, kneeing her in the chin. Stunned, the Spider Queen couldn't block the diamond sword headed her way, and could only attempt to dodge. Instead of cutting her head open, the blade struck her in the chest, the lingering strength ripping through her armor like paper and knocking her back to the wall.

Pulling herself out of the wooden fortification, Arachne leapt at Herobrine. The white-eyed brother dodged Arachne, getting up in time to block Arachne's sword. Pushing her back, Herobrine lunged at his old friend. Arachne was ready, and spun to catch Herobrine's attack, block the sword, and push him away. The plan worked, and Herobrine was forced into roll to avoid simply hitting the floor, exposed. Unfortunately for the white-eyed man, the time it took for him to get up was enough for Arachne to strike.

Arachne slashed at Herobrine's arm, her blade cutting a deep gash into his right bicep. The fallen brother roared in pain and rage, and smashed his fist into Arachne's face in return. The punch dazed Arachne, who was then given a cut to her left thigh by Herobrine. The white-eyed man rose to his feet and rushed into the Spider Queen shoulder first.

Arachne rolled on her back and quickly raised her sword to block Herobrine's hit. The white-eyed man's sword glowed as he smashed it against Arachne's again. After pushing her back, Herobrine stabbed the ground with his sword. The glow of blue that his sword radiated pulsed, then faded away. As Herobrine expected, lightning descended from the heavens, striking Arachne in the chest, surely killing her. What Herobrine didn't expect was a second lightning bolt to come down.

Herobrine turned around to meet the new attacker, but was too slow. A new diamond sword impaled him right in the heart. Who the sword belonged to surprised the white-eyed man. Kaeton pulled his blade out of Herobrine, who fell on his knees.

"I am sorry," the shaman said, "But I do need those diamonds."

Herobrine tried to spit out one final curse, but could only cough out blood before falling to the ground, dead.


	7. Assault

Green Base

The first emotion that Herobrine felt as he woke up was surprise. He had died, had he not? As memories of the past flashed before his eyes, one came to his head, explaining his newfound consciousness. Hypixel's first lecture reminded him that his death was only a temporary one, until his Wither had died.

A gruff voice snapped him out of his thoughts, "Master! You're back!"

Looking up, Herobrine found Decay, fully armored again. He held in his arms a new set for his master. As the white-eyed man put on his boots, Decay continued the conversation.

"If you are back, that means you died, right?"

Herobrine sighed as he put on his chestplate. "Yes," he admitted, "The Yellow Team has the diamonds."

"We may still be able to retrieve them," Decay said, "We should retrieve them."

Herobrine got up, equipped in his new set of armor, and corrected his teammate, "No, the diamonds are lost. By now one of their members will be covered head to toe in diamond armor."

"So what do we do?"

Herobrine looked to the top of the staircase, where Blitz watched their base from. He rested on his iron sword, watching for enemies. The creeper's vigilant eye would keep the base safe, but Herobrine knew that he wouldn't be able to stop powerhouses like Null or Darius.

"We may not take the diamonds from their hands, but we can take them from their corpses. Our priority, your priority is the Yellow Wither."

"But how about you?" Decay asked.

Herobrine watched as Blitz pulled his sword out of the stone steps before giving his answer, "I will hold this castle with Blitz. Now go!"

As Decay ran to the walls of the base, he saw his master run to the central area of their wall, where a shade of black was clambering up. As the two ascended separate wooden staircases, they pulled out their swords, expecting hostile resistance. The zombie didn't see the first strikes between Herobrine and his new combatant as he reached the top of the wall and jumped, landing in their makeshift moat. Decay let the stream take him to the land near the outer wall. Upon arrival, he quickly left the base, downing a speed potion to let him reach the enemy quicker.

Scaling the outer walls of the Yellow Base by pillaring up with dirt, Decay hid behind one of the sides to avoid detection. After three seconds unseen, he poked his green head above his cover to observe the defenses. A large, thick wall covered the perimeter of the inner base, at least five layers thick. In the middle, right in front of the entrance to the castle, a wooden watchtower with two layers stood. From the wall, Decay could see yellow hair and red eyes. The zombie frowned at the possibility of Flare pinning him to the ground with arrows.

To the zombie's luck, Flare wasn't attentive to her job. Looking closer, Decay saw that she and the rest of her team were in a meeting. Blue lights flashed, the sound of crafting could be heard from the walls. Decay's guess was they were discussing who would get the diamond armor, and were in the process of crafting it.

Not letting the opportunity go to waste, Decay mined through the wall as quietly and quickly as he could. He discovered that the wall had multiple varied layers, but it didn't bother him. After making a hole through their varied wall, Decay left a pressure plate and spare TNT for the next attacker, be it him or one of the other teams. His original plan was to blow the wall right open, but considering the stealth opportunity he left the explosives for the next rush.

The zombie had downed his last speed potion and made it past the gateway before a loud boom alerted the Yellow Team. Turning around, he saw that the Blue Team had gotten the same idea as his master and rushed them with all their members. Arrows flew from the watchtower, striking the Golem in the chest but not stopping the automaton. A wolf cloak signaled Kaeton descending to engage, but where was Tusks?

Decay got his answer when a diamond warrior charged into him shoulder first, knocking him into the wither room. Flipping back up, the zombie found Tusks staring right at him, sword at the ready, fully armored in diamond armor. As the zombie got into a combat stance, a loud, hollow grunt reminded him of his objective. Turning his head to the left, Decay found the Yellow Wither glaring at him, its three heads turned in his direction. He turned back to face Tusks, weighing his options. He could die fighting the pigman, or die attempting to attack the Yellow Wither.

Decay made his decision and sprinted towards the Wither. Thuds in the background signaled Tusks in pursuit. Decay watched as the Wither's central head glowed, black exoskeleton shining like a beacon. As the Wither launched a skull at Decay, the zombie fell on his bottom, the speed of his sprint allowing him to slide across the floor.

Dodging the skull, Decay quickly stood up and jumped at the Wither, iron blade at the ready. Upon close range, the zombie stabbed at the Wither's abdomen. The Wither recoiled at the blade's strike as Decay ran past it and got ready for another attack. Tusks quickly rushed to the attacker and gave a horizontal slash at the Zombie. Decay jumped over the pigman's sword and continued to the Wither.

The undead monstrosity fired another skull at Decay, this time hitting it's mark. Though the zombie's diamond chestplate stopped significant damage, the armor could not stop the knockback of the explosion. The zombie flew out of the castle via the large opening behind the Wither, followed by Tusks. Decay landed, skidding on the dirt before hitting his back against a tree. The zombie barely had anytime to react when a rough pink hand grabbed onto his face. Fire in his eyes, Tusks smashed Decay through the tree head first. The pigman's touch burnt the bits of oak that fell on him in debris.

The zombie broke through another one before imbedding himself in the map borders. Shaking his head to clear his confusion, Decay uncapped his health potion. An arrow shot through the bottle, shattering it. The arrow pierced undead flesh, causing Decay to yell in pain. Turning in the direction the shot came from, the zombie found that Flare, who had respawned from a battle outside the wall, had fired at him.

"No health potions for you," the Blaze Queen declared.

Before the zombie could charge at her, a diamond blade swept below him, tripping him. Looking up, Decay saw Tusks, diamond sword in hand. The pigman stomped down on the zombie, cracking his chestplate and setting him down on the ground. Tusks raised his sword in the air then jammed it into Decay's chest without a word. Within a few seconds, Decay blacked out.

Green Base

Dreadlord disappeared in cloud of dust as Blitz detonated. Pulling his sword out of the ground, Blitz inhaled deeply in an effort to recover. Following it up with a health potion, the creeper watched as Herobrine finished off his attacker. After beheading Shade, Herobrine heard a loud boom rock the air. Silence filled the air as the two defenders recovered. Herobrine broke it after a few seconds.

"I'm going to rush Blue from the underground," the white-eyed man told Blitz, "When Decay gets back, tell him to continue rushing Yellow."

"Very well," the creeper replied, "But why Blue?"

"Red will be heavily defended by Fracture," Herobrine answered, "Yellow is currently the main target, leaving Blue Team exposed. Arachne and her husband seem to be more offensive than defensive, and their Golem will be too slow for me."

Iron thuds caught their attention. Looking to the staircase, the duo saw that Decay had returned and reequipped himself in armor. Herobrine simply nodded at Blitz before running past Decay in the direction of the mines. By the time he had descended the cave and made it to the central underground, Herobrine had recovered from the exhausting fight that had occurred prior. The white-eyed man took time to analyze his surroundings.

A large pool of water filled the center of the chamber. At the center, a single island of iron ore stood, untouched. At four different sides of the pool, a stone path led to a cave system underneath the other bases. Herobrine knew because as he had mined during the preparation time he had stumbled upon his base's system. Atop them, supported by crumbling stone-brick gates and walls were wide paths with lightened tunnels towards the enemy castles. Herobrine stood at his base's entrance.

Wooden logs headed to the surface revealed exit points, which Herobrine noted for future excursions. He quickly realized a difference with the one closest to the Yellow Base. Kaeton, his armor slightly battered, slid down the ladder swiftly, looking up at the entrance. A diamond encased figure followed him down, though Herobrine figured it wasn't on the Yellow Team. His first clue was the lack of a diamond helmet and pants, his second was the aggression in the newcomer's eyes.

 _The golem,_ Herobrine noted, _Blue Team has left their base undefended!_

The white-eyed man drank a speed potion before sprinting straight for the blue base. Turning past a corner, he found himself face to face with a wooden barricade. Looking around, he pulled out his pickaxe and began to mine around it. He was nearly through when he heard footsteps. Quickly breaking through the final layer, Herobrine hid behind the barricade as the volume of the thuds increased. Sword at the ready, Herobrine watched his entry way.

As soon as the iron head of the Golem popped through the entry, Herobrine lunged, slashing the automaton straight on the head. After knocking the Golem to the ground, dazed, the white-eyed man sealed up his entrance with wood and ran. Sprinting to the Wither, Herobrine drank his speed potion.

As he reached the Blue Team's monstrosity, the fallen brother jumped with all his strength and pounced the Wither. Stabbing its right head's right eye, Herobrine now had a hanging point on the Wither. The undead monstrosity tried to shake off Herobrine, but the fallen brother had an iron grip. With his left hand, Herobrine equipped his diamond pickaxe and hooked into the Wither's shoulder. With his new grip, Herobrine pulled his diamond sword out of the Wither's eye, the undead monstrosity roaring in pain. The fallen brother put his two feet on one of the Wither's ribs and started hacking and slashing at the monster.

 _Only a matter of time before the Golem arrives,_ Herobrine thought, _Probably a minute or two. What else can I do to this Wither in that time?_

Suddenly, the Wither began to glow a deep blue. White eyes widened as a rasping sound filled the air. Herobrine dismounted the Wither, but couldn't make minimum safe distance as the Wither detonated.

Knocked through the air, Herobrine could feel nothing but pain through his body. His back hit the wall, knocking the breath out of him. As his feet hit the floor, he looked up to see the Wither. It hovered over the floor menacingly. The eye that had been stabbed was slightly faded, yet its glare was still nonetheless threatening.

Herobrine got up, leaning on his sword and got into a combat position. He was about to jump at the Wither again, but was interrupted by a loud explosion and the sound of blocks breaking. The Wither turned its heads to the source of the explosion, the stairs, leading Herobrine to follow its gaze. From behind the Wither, he could determine that whilst the Golem had arrived. He was not alone.

The golem had been knocked back by a blast, and now lay on the floor near the gateway. Rising from the staircase, a bright green head looked around. _A shade to bright_ , Herobrine thought.

"Blitz! What are you doing here?" the white-eyed man questioned.

"Helping you, master," the creeper replied, "Decay has defence, and you need help."

Looking to Blitz's iron sword, Herobrine noticed a flickering white aura around it. He found a similar aura around his blade. The fallen brother nodded to his compatriot, who drank a speed potion. The Wither turned its attention back at Herobrine, leaving the left head to survey Blitz.

"On my mark," Herobrine ordered.

The two Green warriors got into a running stance, swords glowing.

"Mark!"

The two warriors rushed the Wither, battle cries yelled and boots hitting the ground. Their blades lost their glow as the first strikes were made. Clouds grew dark in the distance, and steam boiled around Blitz. The Golem recovered just in time to behold a bright explosion.


	8. Breach

Yellow Base

An arrow pinned Arachne to the wall behind her. A pained grunt followed her pulling out the projectile, before two more took their places in her chest. The Spider Queen looked up only to get finished off by a final headshot from her old friend. Flare limped to Arachne's body, a cut to her right thigh hindering her. After retrieving her arrows for reuse, she continued to the watchtower, where she found her brother and Kaeton. Tusks was fine, but the shaman wasn't better off than Flare was.

Kaeton's iron chestplate was melted at the center, and the area covering his abdomen was exposed. A few bruises were shown, but the stab wound at the center of it was most prevalent. Kaeton's helmet was nowhere to be seen, and had a black eye on his right side. All of those wounds disappeared as the shaman drank a health potion.

"I got Arachne," Flare reported, "Were repairs successful?"

"Partially," Tusks replied, "That Arcanist was giving me a hard time fixing the wall. Good thing Kaeton got back and got him off me. That said, only two layers were fixed."

"It'll have to do," Kaeton stated, "I can imagine that having someone in full diamond armor would make us a target."

The shaman looked to the window, gazing out in the direction of the red base.

"I have a feeling the next wave is on its way," he said as he picked up his sword from the ground, "I'll delay them."

"And die painfully in the process?" Flare asked, a hint of concern in her voice.

"Our wither is still alive. I'll trust you to make sure it stays that way."

Tusks stepped up and grabbed Kaeton by the shoulder, earning his attention. The shaman turned his head before the pigman spoke.

"Death, though not currently permanent, is a painful experience. One I would not wish on a friend. I can go in your place."

"No, Tusks," Kaeton replied, "You're the last line of defence. And I won't risk you or the armor you wear because you want to do me a favor. Stay here, and hold the line." He turned back and began to walk for the exit. "Everyone else has died once. I'll just join the club."

Flare and Tusks watched as the shaman left, jumping over the walls and disappearing into the distance. The siblings stood in silence for a full minute before Flare spoke.

"Has he always been like that?"

"Selfless to a fault?" Tusks asked for clarification. Flare nodded in affirmative.

"Heh, yeah," the pigman chuckled, "Why else would he be my friend?"

Red Base

Red vigilant eyes watched as invaders broke through the outer gates. Fracture prepared an explosive arrow, the projectile's TNT hovering over a torch. The Skeleton had been assigned guard duty whilst Dreadlord and Shade went on a full offensive. Though the one skeleton was outnumbered, Fracture knew his advantages.

The obvious one was the large range advantage. His bow glowed with power, Power IV to be exact. The skeleton was a perfect shot, and doubted the possibility of missing. He also had a few explosive arrows for massive damage. Fracture had a few targets in mind for them. Surveying the battlefield, he began to aim for his target, who was attempting to break through his second advantage.

Though the Red Team had a much thinner wall than the other teams, having only one layer of wooden planks, they had a decently sized moat and multiple fences covering their castle grounds. The miniature walls covered just enough space to keep enemies out, but little enough space to let arrows through.

Golem silently broke through the first layer of fence, the wooden walls splintering under his axe. He had no idea what was coming till he heard a whizzing sound. One second he was looking up, the next he was blown back into the walls behind him. From his cover, the Arcanist peeked out, trying to find the defending archer. He ducked just in time to dodge another arrow. Opposite his makeshift wall of cover, Arachne downed a speed potion. As she drank, her husband relayed orders.

"I'll distract their archer," Darius stated, "You think you can make it pass their wall?"

"Absolutely," the Spider Queen replied, "I'll take him out. When you hear swords clashing, move in and back me up. That good?"

"My original plan was you slip in and attack their Wither, but we'll do more damage together."

A loud roar sounded through the air. Darius turned to its direction, finding Golem back up, ready to rush. The automaton's iron skin was singed, and his armor was slightly battered. Nonetheless, the Golem stood with no sign of difficulty.

"On my mark," Darius said. He looked to Arachne, "Be careful. Make sure that skeleton doesn't notice you."

"Got it," she replied.

Golem roared again, regenerating, an empty bottle at the ground below him. Darius uncapped his speed potion, drank it, and placed one hand at the top of his cover.

"Go!"

Fracture let lose an arrow, the projectile flying through the air towards the Arcanist. Darius clambered over the wall he had been hiding by and brought his sword down on the arrow as it reached him. The projectile was sliced, the arrowhead embedded into the ground. Darius zoomed through the grounds of the castle, an axe in one hand his sword in the other. Golem did the same, running behind him at a slower pace. The Arcanist had chopped two fences down when an arrow hit him in the chest.

The projectile, boosted by Fracture's Power IV bow, shattered the armor where it hit and struck Darius with so much force he fell to the ground. With his axe he cut off the arrow, only for it to be replaced with another one to the abdomen. Knocked to the ground again, the Arcanist was vulnerable for a final shot. Luckily for Darius, someone else could take the shot.

Golem ran to intercept a shot, the automaton only flinching at the impact. With a grunt, Golem snapped off the arrow. The wound healed quickly, the Golem's regeneration potion still in effect. The golem roared with fury, not bothered by the pain of another arrow imbedding itself in its forehead. Menacingly marching towards the wall, the Golem was Fracture's main target. The loud whooshing sound didn't register to the Skeleton, who unknowingly was the target of another individual.

Arachne soared through the air, her enhanced legs boosting her past the Red Team's wall. The Spider Queen reached the thick, flat top of the large tree next to Red Castle and landed with a roll. Arachne got up to a crouch, equipping her sword and staring at her target. After taking a breather, the Spider Queen looked down and jumped off the tree. She knew her ability would cause an explosion as soon as she hit the ground, so she gravitated as close as she could to the wall.

The landing's explosion made a lot of sound, as well as an opening for the rest of the Blue Team. Unfortunately for Arachne, it also got the attention of Fracture. As the cloud of dust cleared, the Spider Queen was instantly struck at the left shoulder. Through the pain, Arachne could see Fracture loading up another shot. Decades of fighting triggered instinct, and the Spider Queen dashed to the side, the arrow headed her way barely missing.

Arachne followed up her dodge with a leap at Fracture. Sword brandished, Arachne yelled a battle cry as she descended towards the Skeleton King. Fracture quickly switched from his bow to his sword, raising it to block the strike. The force behind the attack made Fracture stumble back, catching his footing just in time to parry a right slash.

Slicing at Fracture, Arachne moved forward inch after inch. The Spider Queen knew that Fracture was out of his element, and capitalized on his weakness. Reaching the edge of the stairs, Arachne delivered a mighty kick to Fracture's chest, making him fall to the bottom of the stairs. The Spider Queen looked down at her fallen opponent and jumped down to meet him sword first.

Outside Yellow Base

Elsewhere, a similar attack was made. Null descended from the air, sword raised. His target, Kaeton, held a broken sword, and wore shattered armor. Looking up, the Shaman had the emotion of acceptance in eyes, expecting death from above. However, that would not be the case.

An iron sword pierced Kaeton's chest and pulled him to the side. He landed to the ground with a thud and saw his killer before he blacked out for the respawn process. Shade flicked his sword, the Shaman's blood falling off his blade. Another thud behind him alerted him of Dreadlord's return to earth. The enderman turned around, already knowing the emotion filling his master. Null may not have had a face, the closest thing to one that he had being an expressionless skull. Nonetheless, Shade could feel the anger radiating off his master in waves. The enderman in turn had the cheeky grin of a troublemaker.

"You had to steal my kill," Null said, not even trying to hide his rage.

The series of grunts the enderman made were incomprehensible to most, but Null translated it easily, "You saw it coming."

Null sighed, putting a bony hand to his skull. While imprisoned, his captors were nice enough to give him updates on the outside world, and that included trends. Shade's brethren, who had over the course of the years grown friendly with the Minecraftians, had utilized their ability to teleport for mischief. The art of killstealing was among the first to be invented by the modern endermen, and during the build phase Shade couldn't stop talking about it.

"Do that again and you're dead," Null growled, "Now, let's -"

An arrow of fire stuck itself into Null's shoulder plate, not penetrating but startling the dark entity with its heat. The Dreadlord pulled out the arrow with a grunt and began furiously patting at his wound, stopping the flames. He looked up at the outer wall, where Flare was already preparing another arrow. As soon as the Blaze Queen fired, Null shot off. Dodging the arrows, the Dreadlord equipped a supply of dirt blocks and stacked up as fast as he could.

Looking past his block supply, he realized that he had built over the wall. He jumped and landed with a roll, crouched on one knee, and aimed an open hand at Flare. A wither skull shot out of it, a rasping sound filling the air. Flare was sent back by the explosive, getting up just in time to dodge two others and hide behind cover. The Blaze Queen peered past the wooden wall she hid behind, left hand flickering with cinders.

Null walked slowly towards where Flare hid behind, the unnerving, rasping laughter echoing off the wooden floor. His target revealed herself, and Null charged, sword raised. Flare aimed her left arm in the same way Null had done earlier. Wisps of flame flickered around her and concentrated at her hand.

"If you want to play that way," Flare said, a grin on her face forming faster than the flames around her, "We can play that way."

The apex arrived, and a barrage of fireballs blasted out of Flare's hand. The first burst blasted Dreadlord back, the next rendering his armor to a superheated slag. A third struck the Dreadlord, then a third, then a forth. The fifth finally exploded on its target, leaving nothing remaining.

Flare smiled at her handiwork, the fire around her fading. She couldn't celebrate though, as popping sound behind her alerted her of a new enemy. Spinning fast, the Blaze Queen swiped her bow in an arc. Her enemy leaned back, dodging the attack. A black forehead collided with Flare's, dazing her. The attack was followed by a kick to the face, knocking her back.

Shade readied his sword, a cloud of purple-blue surrounding him. As the first Enderman, Shade's teleportation not only warped him from one place to another, but gave him a temporary speed boost, courtesy of the excess energy from traveling dimensions. Dashing forward, the Enderman slashed downwards at Flare, who blocked with her bow. The projectile launcher was cut in two, its enchantment power being released in a pulse.

Unhindered, Shade slashed again, scoring a cut to Flare's shoulder. The Blaze Queen yelped in pain, recovering just in time to roll to the side of another cut. She quickly equipped her sword and slashed at Shade. The Enderman easily parried, dimensional energy and decades of experience boosting his reflexes. Shade pushed Flare back and began a flurry of attacks. Slash after slash, cut after cut, Flare was pushed back.

The cloud of purple finally dissipated after what felt like hours to Flare. The sudden lost of a boost caused an accidental stumble on Shade's part, who had began to back up after realizing the cloud of speed around him was fading. She capitalized on this error, lunging at the enderman with her sword. Caught of guard, Shade couldn't stop the diamond blade from impaling him.

As Shade coughed out purple blood, Flare grinned at the thought of her double kill. To her surprise, though, the Enderman glared at her with defiance. Frowning, Flare twisted her blade, earning her a grimace of pain from Shade. Yet the Enderman was still not dead.

"How in the realms of Minecraftia are you not dead?" she thought aloud, rage evident in her voice.

The Enderman's eye suddenly flickered white, much like that of Herobrine's eyes. It was at this moment that Flare realized what she had missed. Shade had destroyed a whole city with nothing but a handful of endermen, surviving over thirty fatal wounds in the process. Whilst the ability was clearly diminished, Shade could easily make do with what he had.

A sudden pain filled Flare's abdomen, shocking the Blaze Queen. Looking down, Flare realized that, despite being impaled, Shade had stepped forward and stabbed her. She looked up again, pain, fear and shock filling her entire body as she saw Shade staring at her, jaw unhinged and hanging from his head.

At the Yellow Watchtower, Tusks sat, peacefully fiddling with his diamond helmet. Opposite him, Kaeton was restocking on armor. A loud growling sound filled the Yellow Base. Tusks put on his helmet, nodding to Kaeton before leaving the watchtower and walking onto the inner walls. The pigman reached the area near the mines, scanning the base for a sign of hostility. When he found none, he looked to the spawn area, where her sister had reappeared. Flare's skin was white in fear, and she was leaning on the spawn walls for support.

"Flare, you okay?" the pigman asked, concerned.

His sister looked up to him, and seemed to grow even paler. Her eyes were wide in fear. Tusks didn't get it until a the sound of a dimensional warp sounded behind him. The growl that echoed through the base seemed to grow louder after it.

Already knowing what was behind him, the pigman sighed, "Oh dear."


	9. Falling

**Author's Note: Sorry for the slow updates. I have been... distracted. (*cough* can't stop playing Halo 5 *cough*)**

Green Base

Outer Wall

Confident in the security of his Base, Herobrine called his allies to him. Within a few minutes, Blitz and Decay would arrive. Setting up a makeshift bench and placing a map of the battlefield on the table, the white-eyed man analyzed their situation. From what he had deduced in the past few hours, the main target was the Yellow Team, who still had Tusk in full diamond. Few skirmishes had been made between other teams, but damage in those attacks paled in comparison to those set on Kaeton's team.

 _A shame_ , Herobrine thought, _That shaman is the only soul here with morals that deserve a second chance._

Footsteps alerted Herobrine of his subordinate's arrival. Turning to meet them, Herobrine gestured to the bench. Both Decay and Blitz got the message and took opposite sides of the bench.

"What's the plan?" Decay questioned.

Pointing to the Yellow Base on the map, Herobrine answered, "Yellow Base. Assault. We finish them now, take Tusk down, and mop up the rest of the teams."

Blitz had his hand on his chin, deep in thought. "Our base will be vulnerable," he pointed out, "If we all go, our Wither can easily be taken out. It's running on fumes, and it's still recovering from Blue Team's last attack."

"That's why you'll take their Wither out."

Blitz raised his eyes in surprise. His master looked at him with question in his eyes, "Do you think you can do it?"

The Creeper blinked twice before responding, "Sure, sure. I can do that."

With the only problem cleared, the fallen brother pointed to Decay, "You will be my cover. The other teams will most likely be attacking the Yellow Team as well. Once the Yellow Wither falls, keep them off myself and Tusks. I will kill him, ensuring we get his armor. If you still have TNT, use it."

Decay nodded in affirmative. With that, Herobrine took the map from the table, replacing it with a new one, mainly gray in nature. Where the castles were on the previous paper, a large mine with railroads took its place. The rails from each mine lead to the center of the map.

"When our objectives are complete, we will meet at the central cave. If all goes well, we'll split the armor and go back to our previous roles."

With a breath, Herobrine concluded the briefing. Looking to his comrades, he asked, "Any questions?"

"Just one," Decay answered.

"Shoot."

"What if all doesn't go well?"

Herobrine sighed, then answered, "Don't die. That's all I got for that."

Yellow Base

Watchtower

Flare viewed her team's castle, disappointment filling her body. Their great walls were in major need of repair, a need that would not be tended to. Once green fields of grass were now dirt craters. Bodies from past lives were strewn across the battlefield, different wounds across them, each reminding the Blaze Queen of her deaths.

The most recent one was a simple, self inflicted stab to the stomach; the Yellow Team had come to a unanimous decision that once an individual ran out of potions, they would kill themselves to respawn and regain their potions. The only one who hadn't died since that choice was made was Tusks, who relied on their Wither's regeneration cloud to heal. If only the source of their immortality could repair his armor as well.

The heavy footsteps of her brother alerted Flare to his arrival. She viewed his diamond armor, which was marred with battle scars, and even a few dents on some plates. Sitting down on a wooden chair, Tusks picked up a stone that they had placed as a sharpener. After so many battles, Tusks' blade had grown dull, used. Despite the lack of wounds on his body, Tusks was exhausted.

"Anyone coming?" Tusks asked.

"Fortunately no," Flare replied, "Unfortunately, this is but the calm before the storm. They'll no doubt be here soon."

Tusks sighed, filling the air with something Flare hadn't felt since the battle before her capture.

A complete loss of morale.

"Then we prepare."

The new voice snapped the two siblings out of their trance, their eyes turning to the door. Kaeton was in no better shape than either of them, having lost his shoulder plating and helmet in a previous fight with Golem. He only had two potions left, one pink with healing, the other the loose blue liquid of speed.

"Prepare?" Flare asked, "Well if I'm going out, I'm going out with style."

"No, Flare," Kaeton said, "We can survive. We will survive, and we will win."

"I doubt that," Tusks grunted, "But explain your plan anyway."

"Our Wither will die," Kaeton stated, "That's a given. But just because it's dead doesn't mean we're dead. We can escape through the tunnels and block our way with the TNT we looted off Blitz earlier."

"We'll hide in the caves and wait for an opportunity to strike," the Shaman continued, "With us out of the picture, it will only be a matter of time before the other teams' Withers die off."

"That could work," Flare said, her voice slightly filled with hope.

On the other hand, her brother stared at the floor in thought, a grim look on his face. The Pigman agreed with her sister, but doubted in their ability to make the plan happen. An average explosion wouldn't do much against those they were fighting, and a blocked off cave would buy them at most a few seconds. Tusks' mind raced for a solution. Only one solution came to mind, and it was a dark thought.

"Tusks?" Kaeton asked, snapping the pigman out of his trance.

"Yeah, I'm good," Tusks lied in reply. He wasn't good. Unless he found another way out, he wouldn't be good.

Kaeton nodded in reply. He nearly managed to make it to a seat before Flare stood from hers, aimed at the window of the watchtower with her bow and fired an arrow. At that instant, everyone in the room took out their weapons, their exhaustion seemingly disappearing.

"They're here," Kaeton half stated, half asked.

"They're here," Flare confirmed.

Yellow Base

Outer Wall Gate

Null pulled Flare's arrow out of the ground. The Dreadlord figured he would need it later, and put it away into his inventory. To his side, Shade drank a speed potion. He dropped the used bottle, and had dashed to the Yellow walls before it crashed on the ground. Stabbing at the wall, the Enderman used his sword as a grip.

Nearly reaching the top, Shade suddenly felt an intense heat on his hand. Looking up, he saw steam radiating off his sword. A mirage similar to the ones found in deserts had formed above him, and at the center of it all was a diamond-armor clad warrior, sword imbedded the floor of the wall. Unable to hold on, the Enderman pulled his sword out of the wall and fell to the ground in a steaming pile.

Null rushed the opposite side of the wall, scaling it with the same technique that Shade used. This time though, the hindrances didn't come from the wall, but from others sieging it. Dreadlord barely dodged a laser beam, causing the dark entity to turn his head around and glare at his attacker.

Darius didn't return the glare and ran forward, both of his teammates at either side of him. With a cold stare he focused on a small makeshift dirt staircase that had been constructed by a past attacker. Golem ran ahead of them, intercepting an arrow for his teammates. Unhindered by the projectile in his chest, Golem constructed a makeshift wall, which his team hid behind.

"Are we going with the same, flawed plan," Arachne asked, "Or are we switching it up?"

"A bit of both," Darius replied, peeking past the wall, "And I thought you approved of all my plans."

"I would, but considering our total death count as a team is over thirty, I'll say I'm not a fan."

Darius had figured that out a few respawns ago, and wasn't concerned. He was more focused on figuring out an attack path. Luckily for him, Flare's arrows seemed to be aimed towards the Red warriors rather than them.

"With Dreadlord and his team attacking, you won't be needed for a distraction. The Reds will be," the Arcanist explained. As he scanned the wall for openings and weakpoints, he found the opposite. "That said, we'll need to get past that pigman if we want to finish them off."

The rest of his team looked past the wall and found Tusks standing on the wall, staring them down, daring them to make a move. Putting down his sword, Darius took a speed potion from his inventory. He turned back to the cover to explain his plan.

"You and Golem will take the Wither," Darius ordered, "I'll keep Tusks off you."

"But you'll die!" Arachne cried.

Darius looked to Arachne with a look of confusion. Their wither wasn't dead, so he'd respawn. If anything, the Arcanist knew that his wife knew of their immortality. He missed the point.

"I don't want to see you die again," the Spider Queen whispered, "Not after last time. And the time before that. I've seen enough."

"I'm not gonna die," Darius stated, "Not with this speed potion keeping me out of his attack's range."

Arachne turned her back to him, "You don't understand," she muttered.

"I don't understand what?"

"Do you know the hell I've been through, seeing you die over and over?" Arachne questioned, her voice raising, "Watching my fears come to light again and again? Do you know how I feel whenever I see one of your corpses, cold and devoid of life?"

Darius backed up slightly at his wife's increasingly hostile tone.

"Do you realize how much it hurts to see you dead because instead of saving you, I followed your stupid plan? Do you feel that pain when you see me dead? Well the pain I feel whenever someone stabs me, or beheads me, or anything is _nothing_ to what I feel when you die."

Darius was silent for a while, a wave of negative emotions stunning him. Anger at Arachne for accusing him, disgust at himself for not showing concern. The man Arachne said he was was emotionless, like a ghost. He didn't want to be that person, but it seemed to be the reality.

"So please," Arachne whispered, "Don't throw this life away. Not again."

Recovered, Darius nodded, "I'm sorry for doing that. Being that type of person."

"Then I'll accept a thank you for taking your place."

At the sound of the ancient voice, the entire Blue Team turned, swords raised at the newcomer. Herobrine didn't even flinch. Motioning to his teammate that to stand down, the white eyed man stepped forward.

"You said you needed a distraction. How big?"

Arachne lowered her sword and turned to her husband, who did the same. As Darius told the Golem to calm down, Arachne answered.

"Big enough to make Blitz look like an amateur would be nice."

Herobrine nodded, "Very well. Decay will join you on your assault. We all have the same target, so don't worry about him."

Marching forward, Herobrine passed the wooden wall, revealing himself to the defenders. He took his diamond sword from his back, the blade glowing brightly. The white-eyed man then turned to Darius, who instantly was on the alert.

"Arcanist, listen to my words," the fallen brother said, "Do not ignore those who love you, lest you become less than human."

"I won't," Darius replied.

Herobrine smirked, "Good." He drank a speed potion, then said, "Don't overreact, it wasn't like you were going to use it."

As the fallen brother dashed off, Darius then realized the lack of weight on his hand. Sure enough, his speed potion wasn't there. Tricked, the Arcanist was filled with rage. He bellowed a curse to the sky.

"Son of a-!"

Yellow Walls

Kaeton rolled forward, ducking under the blade of Null. Getting up on one knee, the Shaman was barely able to block the incoming sword. Using the height advantage, the Dreadlord pushed forward, slowly forcing Kaeton to the ground. Sparks flew as the warrior's swords grinded against each other, shining brightly against Kaeton's eyes.

Before Kaeton's muscles gave out, a flaming arrow pierced through Null's chest. The Dreadlord's head turned only slightly before another arrow shot him through the back. Another followed, and the pressure on Kaeton faded, Null's lifeless body falling to his right with a clunk.

The shaman uncapped a health potion and downed it before making his way to the watchtower, where Flare had already began firing on the other group of intruders.

"Blue and Green," the Blaze Queen reported, "Tusks is engaged, but he's losing ground. All the diamond armor in the world won't save him from divine lightning."

Kaeton looked out the window, and sure enough, Tusks was getting blasted with bright thunder. Flare fired arrows in an attempt to cover her brother, but the white-eyed man dodged them with ease. The Shaman was about to intervene when a popping sound alerted him of another attacker.

Spinning around, Kaeton's diamond blade caught an iron one. Purple pupils glared at black as Shade screeched in rage. Flare turned her head in shock, stepping back and aiming with an arrow.

"No!" Kaeton ordered, "Help your brother! I'll take care of Shade!"

With a grunt, Kaeton pushed Shade back. He followed it up with a slash from above, which Shade dodged. With Kaeton's sword imbedded in the ground, Shade thought that the Shaman was vulnerable. A bite to his leg said otherwise.

A wolf had seemingly come out of nowhere and bitten at Shade's leg. Roaring in pain, the enderman sliced at the dog, which fell to the ground with a whimper. It evaporated from the sword wound. Shade turned around to be met with yet another wolf. The enraged canine pounced on the enderman, who stumbled out of the watchtower and onto the wall's floor.

The shaman ran pass Shade, who was still struggling with his spirit wolf, and stopped by the part of the wall with a constructed staircase. Kaeton leaped forward, landing foot first on Darius., who was stepping up the stairs, leading the charge. The Arcanist was knocked back, straight into his teammates.

With the attackers temporarily incapacitated, Kaeton drove his sword into the staircase, the blade glowing. Feeling the air circulate rapidly around him, Kaeton quickly pulled out his sword and dashed back onto the walls. He landed just in time to witness the block he had stood on shatter, the dirt pieces being the first to be sucked up into the newly formed tornado.

 _With that, the walls are secure,_ the Shaman thought to himself. A flash of lightning snapped him out of that thought. Turning around, he saw a large hole in the wall, and through it, Herobrine standing over a diamond clad body, sword raised.

Tusks looked up at his old master, defiance in his eyes. His armor was severely damaged, as was his body, but not his will. Herobrine had no emotion on his face, but the weapon in his hand was more than enough to show his intent.

"I am truly sorry," the fallen brother told Tusks, "But your death is necessary for my vengeance."

He brought the sword down.


	10. Fleeing

**Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait. The last few days of School were brutal, and an update came to Halo 5: Guardians right as the holidays began. But at least I got this chapter out before the end of the year.**

 **Merry Christmas! (Or whatever other winter holiday you celebrate :) )**

Flare shot arrow after arrow at the Blue Team, keeping them pinned at the base of what was the staircase up to their wall. The invaders, joined by Decay, took cover behind what remained of the staircase. Her ability ready, Flare was about to let loose a barrage of fireballs at the invaders when another explosion shook the base. Flare turned to the breach in the wall at the sound of thunder. As the dust cleared, the victor of the battle was revealed. The sight of Herobrine standing over Tusks, sword raised, filled Flare with fear. Paralyzed, all she could do was watch her old master kill her brother.

But it was not to be. In a show of great defiance, Tusks put up his hands in the way of Herobrine's sword. The diamond blade cut a large gash on the Pigman's palm, but it didn't do any other damage. A sudden rush of heat radiated off Tusks, who slowly stood up. With great effort, Tusks shoved Herobrine's blade down, imbedding it into the ground. Yelling in defiance, Tusks charged at Herobrine shoulder first, knocking the fallen brother back.

Flare was about to jump down and assist her brother when a hand on her shoulder stopped her. Kaeton had his sword at the ready, and pointed it at the castle.

"The Wither," he ordered, "Go. I'll help your brother."

As the Blaze Queen nodded silently and went her way, Kaeton dropped from the wall and ran up to Tusks, who was on one knee, leaning on his sword for support. The Shaman passed his ally a health potion.

"Take it," he ordered.

"I barely survived a fight with Herobrine," the pigman pointed out, pushing the health potion away, "You'll need it. I'll regenerate by the Wither."

"Assuming you get there," an ancient, powerful voice snarled.

The two Yellow teammates turned quickly, being met with a glowing white glare. Herobrine raised his sword, aiming its point at Kaeton. The shaman got into a battle stance, a mist forming around him. The cloud twisted in form until it turned into two wolves, one at either side of Kaeton.

"Go, Tusks," Kaeton ordered, "Stop them from killing our Wither."

The shaman dashed to meet Herobrine in combat as Tusks moved towards the castle. He drank his last speed potion in an effort to get there faster. A wound inflicted earlier in his battle with Herobrine caused Tusks to limp. He only hoped he would get there in time.

Yellow Castle

Wither Room

Dark lightning came down from the opening in the wall behind the Wither. The cursed thunder descended at the Yellow Wither's command, striking both Golem and Decay. The latter was completely erased, seared armor all that remained of him. The Golem was forced to the ground by the bolt. A barrage of fireballs knocked the automaton away.

Flare nocked another arrow and aimed at Arachne, who was drinking a health potion in a corner of the room. She let the arrow go, thinking she would take down the Spider Queen. A glowing diamond blade intercepted the arrow. Flare barely had enough time to pull out her own sword to block Darius' strike. The Arcanist struck Flare with enough force to knock her down to the ground.

Darius dashed past Flare, aiming his sword at his target. Despite having a mauled right head and a blind left one, the Yellow Wither roared in defiance. The Arcanist added a laser burn to the Wither's list of wounds and jumped towards the stunned undead monstrosity, The Wither recovered with surprising speed and launched a Wither skull at Darius, blasting the Arcanist away.

Darius' body flew past Flare and Arachne, who were engaged in a deadly dance. Their diamond swords clashed, sparks flying. Arachne pushed forward, following up the shove with a diamond-boot kick. Flare dodged, moving to the side of the kick. Instead of a foot, the Blaze Queen was met with an elbow to the face, followed almost instantaneously by a diamond pommel, which knocked her to the ground.

A wither skull struck Arachne before she could bring down a killing blow on Flare. The Blaze Queen quickly got up and dashed to the Wither's side, nocking an arrow and aiming towards the Blues. Before she could release the arrow, a laser beam struck her first. She was blown into the air, barely landing on her feet and falling on one knee.

 _Too many,_ Flare thought, _can_ _'_ _t hold them forever._

Both Darius and Arachne uncapped health potions and drank them. They then brandished their swords, all signs of previous engagements disappearing. If Flare wanted to stand a chance, she would have to drink her own health potion. But if she did, that would be a health potion she would not have access to in the future. She was stuck in a lose-lose scenario, and desperately needed help.

As the two Blues dashed forward, help came. Half sprinting, half hopping on his good foot, Tusks barreled into the two attackers. With a mighty yell and fire in his eyes, he smashed into Darius' gut, sending the Arcanist into his wife, and knocking them both to the staircase. The force of the attack caused the two to smash through the stone brick floor.

"Tusks!" Flare ran to join her brother, who stumbled as he met her sister with a hug. She released her brother, smiling, "I wasn't going to last any longer. Thanks."

"Well, shoving them down the stairs won't stop them for long," Tusks stated, limping forward, lightly grunting with each step, "Shall we?"

"No, I can finish them off," Flare said, "Stay here and rest. Herobrine really did a number on you."

Before Tusks could intervene, Flare ran off, descending into the staircase. The Blaze Queen dropped down the hole in the floor, noticing a bloodied piece of stone on the floor. From it, a few drops of blood made a pathway further down the stairs. The sudden retreat surprised Flare, who began to follow the path. The Blue Team hadn't shown mercy in the past, so why would they now?

Yellow Underground

"I never was lucky," Darius groaned, applying his healing potion on the bleeding wound at his side. Getting smashed by an angry Pigman? Reasonable. Breaking through three levels of stone brick floor right after? He'd live. Then one of the shattered bricks imbedded itself into his side. That needed major attention.

"So what now?" Arachne asked, "We continue the assault?"

"It's the right move to make," Darius replied.

Arachne sighed, "Alright then."  
At his wife's suppressed distress, and memories from before, Darius said, "We don't have to. I'm sure between Golem and the Green Team, the Yellow Wither will fall."

Arachne looked to her husband, who added, "I don't want to put you through that pain again."

Silence filled the stone brick halls, before Arachne smiled, "Thank you."

The sound of boots hitting the ground in the distance snapped the pair out of their conversation. Darius looked towards the way they came, spotting Flare in pursuit. At the sight of the Blues, the Blaze Queen nocked an arrow and aimed. Before Flare could release, Darius pointed his glowing sword at her. The Arcanist fired a bright blast at Flare, knocking her back.

"We need to move," Darius stated.

Arachne nodded in reply, and the two dashed away into the dark.

Yellow Castle

Wither Room

Herobrine blocked Kaeton's strike and pushed his sword to the right. With his target exposed, the fallen brother kicked out, forcing the Shaman back. Kaeton hit the wall behind him, the air in his lungs getting knocked out of him. He recovered just in time to duck, avoiding a stab to his head. He rolled to his side and pulled at Herobrine's leg, the fallen brother falling to the floor.

The Shaman put his sword away and grabbed at Herobrine's leg again. Kaeton threw his foe away, the fallen brother getting flung to the other side of the room. Herobrine collided into Golem, who was previously engaged in a duel with Tusks.

Green and Blue got up, their armor battered from constant fighting. Their enemies on the Yellow Team weren't off much better, but their Wither, which refused to die, gave them strength. Herobrine glanced at his 'ally', who roared in defiance to the Yellows. The Golem never saw the strike coming.

Herobrine drove his blade into the Golem's back, the automaton groaning at the blade impaling it. The fallen brother dropped the automaton's body to his right, feeling the Golem's energy powering him. At this, Tusks backed up to join Kaeton's line, blocking the Wither. They didn't dare attack first. They had the disadvantage now.

Herobrine charged, bursting off in a blur. Tusks stepped forward and attempted to slash at his former master, but Herobrine fell to his knees and slid under his blade. In a fraction of a second, he jumped up and raised his sword. He brought the diamond blade down, striking Kaeton's sword away and inflicting a massive cut to his chest.

The fallen brother didn't stop. He made straight for the Wither and pounced at the undead monstrosity. The Wither charged and knocked Herobrine away with its left head. Herobrine smashed into a pillar to the right and fell to the floor. As he got up, he dashed to his right, barely escaping the Wither's lightning attack. Tusks got in his way again, stabbing the floor in front of him with his diamond blade. The heat in the area instantly rised, as did the Pigman's strength.

Herobrine growled at the pigman's defiance. If he was at full strength, he would've wiped the Pigman off the face of Minecraftia without a second thought. But in the simulation, his options were limited. He brought a speed potion from his side and uncapped it, but Tusks wasn't having it. The Pigman pulled his sword out of the ground and charged at the white-eyed man, who gulped down his potion as fast as he could.

Tusks slashed with his sword, but it met nothing. A burst of wind to his side alerted him to Herobrine's attack, but it was too late. The fallen brother smacked the back of Tusks' head with his pommel, knocking the pigman to the floor. Not bothering to finish him off, the fallen brother burst forward at his final target.

The Wither roared in defiance and charged up another Wither Skull. Herobrine raised his sword and jumped again at the Wither. The whisper of a Wither Skull accelerating towards its target filled Herobrine's ears, but he continued nonetheless. He didn't realize that the Wither's charge-up sequence hadn't finished. He didn't realize what was coming for him until he felt it detonate to his side.

A loud shockwave burst through the Yellow Castle. Everyone in it except for the one who brought down the Wither was knocked to the ground. Herobrine got up to one knee with a groan, still dazed from the explosion and shockwave. The fallen brother looked in front of him, seeing that Tusks was still down, but trying to use the pillar as a support. He looked then in front behind him, finding the Yellow Wither on the ground. Or more accurately, what was left of it. A gaping, smoking hole took the place of the Wither's center.

He blinked, spotting a figure in the distance. His anger boiled once he realized who it was, and he immediately stood up, ignoring his muscle's pain. He brought his sword up in an attack form and a health potion to his mouth. He would need it to bring down the newcomer.

"You didn't think you could have all the fun, did you?" Null taunted.

Herobrine's hate filled roar snapped Tusks out of his daze. He watched the fallen brother burst forward at a new opponent. Drifting from where the fallen brother stood, he found Kaeton on the floor, attempting to get up. Reduced to a limp again, he inched forward towards Kaeton. He helped the Shaman up,

"Underground?" the Pigman asked.

"Where's Flare?" the Shaman asked, "We can't leave her."

"If she had died, she would've made it back in here by now," Tusks reasoned, "She's not, and therefore probably underground, now let's go!"

The two made it down the first case of stairs when a Null-thrown Herobrine smashed himself into the wall. The two Yellows quickly averted their path to avoid the duel between the two gods. Herobrine pulled himself out of the wall and growled, choosing not to kill the two mortal Yellows, and continued towards his eternal foe. Kaeton sighed in relief at this.

Tusks and Kaeton jumped down the hole in the stairs, stumbling and falling to the floor when they landed. Their wounds negated their ability to otherwise land safely. Tusks dragged himself off the floor and pulled Kaeton up, not wasting anytime.

"We gotta move!" the Pigman stated, before continuing down the hallway.

Kaeton followed as quickly as he could, "Where's your sister? You said she would be here."

A weak groan answered, "Here."

Tusks and Kaeton stopped and turned to source of the voice. Flare was leaning on a wall for support, a stab wound on her stomach causing major bleeding. The wall she wasn slumped on was cracked, and some broken bricks lay in her general area.

Tusks and Kaeton pulled Flare up, each of them holding one of Flare's arms over their shoulder. As they continued to limp away, the sounds of conflict grew closer. Whoever was the victor of the battle would no doubt come for them next.

"Flare, why didn't Null kill you?" Kaeton asked.

"So he could kill me for good later," Flare explained with a weak whisper, "I don't think we have much time."

"You are so right you're dead."

The dark, ancient voice alerted them, and they turned around to meet their foe. Null glared at them, radiating the aura of one eager to deliver a finishing blow.

"Or maybe I'm getting ahead of myself," Null taunted, "So, who's first?"

Silence filled the air, followed by dread and anticipation. Null's blade shone crimson with the blood of a fallen foe, only eclipsed in brightness by the fire in Tusks eyes. His left hand went behind his back, causing Kaeton to look in that direction. His widened in what he saw: a block of TNT.

"Go," Tusks ordered, stepping forward and taking his sword with his right hand, "I'll hold him off."

Flare reached forward, screaming with all she had in her, "NO! Don't do this!"

Tusks ignored his sister's plea, and placed the TNT block right behind him. His left hand free, the Pigman took out his final health potion, biting the cap and pulling it off before drinking it. He spat out the cap before continuing.

"You wanted someone, Null. That's all you'll get."

"Oh really?" the Dreadlord questioned, "What's stopping me from killing them after I've disposed of you?"

"Wouldn't you like to know."

The Pigman turned around one final time to his comrades.

"I'm so sorry, Flare. This is the only way. Kaeton, take care of her for me."

Kaeton held the Blaze Queen back as she tried to get to her brother. Ignoring the desperate cries from Flare, Tusks drove his sword into the ground. The hallway around him heated up, the Pigman at the burning point's center glowing in the heat. The TNT behind Tusks ignited as the Pigman yelled his last battle cry and charged at the Dreadlord.

The TNT behind Tusks detonated, caving in the hall with stone, brick, ore and other minerals. Flare screamed as her brother's fate was sealed, Kaeton barely able to keep her in his arms. The conflict on the other side was muted out by the sound of falling debris, and by the time the dust cleared, only one sound could be heard.

Grief filled the Yellow halls, for Tusks had been lost for good.

 **Author's Note: Now I feel like a jerk for releasing this on Christmas Eve. Sorry.**


	11. Unity

Green Spawnpoint

"It could've been better."

Blitz summed up his assault on the Blue Wither with that sentence. Unfortunately for the creeper, it wasn't enough.

"Explain," Herobrine ordered, "In detail."

"I took out the Wither, but the entire Blue Team spawned on me. I did some damage, but couldn't do anything lasting. They could recover over some time, or drink a single potion if necessary."

"They wouldn't," Decay stated, "At least, I don't think. Darius knows how much those final potions matter. He wouldn't waste them."

"Well, he might've," Blitz said. Decay looked at his associate with confusion.

"What logical reason would Darius have?"

Blue Underground

"You didn't need to waste that health potion."

Arachne put on new shoulder plates, shedding the blasted old armor pieces onto the floor. The Spider Queen rotated her shoulder, noting the lack of a burning pain.

"You know I would've healed it off in time," Arachne stated, "We won't be getting anymore potions."

"I know," Darius answered, "I just would rather not see you in pain."

"That potion could save you in a future engagement," Arachne pointed out, "You know, we're mortal again. I don't want to see you die for good."

"Well, I'll just be more careful," Darius replied, "Besides, if we need to share, you still have health potions."

Arachne dropped her frown and smiled, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," the Arcanist warmly responded.

Darius turned his head to dull thudding ahead in the tunnel. His Golem ran forward, no sign of damage visible. The automaton groaned in its mechanical tongue, relaying information to its master. Darius stood up.

"Are you sure?"

More sounds followed.

"They mean us no harm, and wish to speak with us?"

"They?" Arachne asked. Despite being married to Darius, Arachne had never picked up the golem-speak he often used to communicate to their assistants.

"The Yellow Team," the Arcanist answered, "Or from what Golem says, what's left of them."

Central Underground

Yellow Lower Caves

Kaeton watched the Blue Entrance, a fresh loaf of bread in his hands. Golem had vanished into the tunnel minutes ago, and from the sounds of voices emanating from it, the Blues were still in discussion whether to trust them. A whine caused the Shaman to turn his head to the leftt. Kaeton smiled at the sight of one of his spirit wolves, come to help him. He patted its head and pointed to the Blue Tunnel. The wolf understood, and ran off. The Blues would make their decision, and the wolf would tell him in advance what it was.

He didn't care either way. The likelihood of them attacking was low. If Darius didn't trust them, he wouldn't attack. It would be too risky for them, and Kaeton knew this pretty much guaranteed their safety. There was something he did care about at this point, though. The Shaman turned his head towards the inside of the cavern, sighing at the sight of Flare, still sitting against the wall, arms wrapped around her knees. Her helmet was put to her side, and her hair was messed in a way where it blocked her face from view. The wounds Null inflicted on her were healed, but the gap in her soul she reserved for Tusks would never be filled again.

"Flare," Kaeton called, holding his loaf of bread to her, "Eat this."

Unlike previous attempts, the Blaze Queen took the bread, actually regarding her teammate's attempt to help her. She took the bread and ate in silence, still radiating the cold feeling of loss.

Kaeton knew the answer, but asked anyway, "Are you alright?"

"What do you think," Flare grumbled spitefully. Her voice raised when she responded to the Shaman's silence, "You think I'm fine? I just lost my brother! You think that's something you can just walk away from unscathed?!"

Flare stood up as she ranted, her hair glowing like embers. Her eyes, previously hidden, flashed a bright red-orange. Her anger radiated as she screamed.

"WELL, YOU CAN'T!"

Kaeton backed up at the sudden outburst. At the sight of the Shaman's face, Flare's rage settled down, and her hair and eyes lost their glow. Rage gave way to grief, and Flare fell to her knees, silent tears trailing down her face.

"I'm so sorry," Flare said, closing her eyes in an attempt to stop the tears from falling, "It's just… I can't go on."

Kaeton silently thought to himself for a way to comfort his teammate. What could he say? What could he say? What would Tusks have done? At this, he finally knew what to do.

Kaeton knelt down and put his hand to Flare's shoulder. The Blaze Queen couldn't keep her grief contained, and she quickly hugged Kaeton, crying into his chest. The Shaman let her. He knew it was best to get the negativity out now than later.

After a short silence, Kaeton spoke, "You can go on, you are stronger than this."

The crying slowed slightly as Kaeton spoke, "I know that you are hurt, that you feel pain, but you have to remember why you feel that pain."

"Tusks sacrificed himself so we could survive, so we could continue to fight."

Flare looked up, a mix of rage and sorrow. "You don't think I know that?" she said, her emotions cracking her voice.

"If you know this, then you know you must fight. If not for yourself, then for your brother and his memory."

The Blaze Queen looked down, hugging tighter than before.

"I can't fight," she whispered, "Not right now. Please, help me."

Kaeton returned the embrace, replying, "I will."

A bark sounded in the cave, and Kaeton looked pass Flare to see what it was. The Shaman saw his spirit wolf, and knew what its return entailed. Kaeton ended the embrace and stood up, offering his hand to Flare. After helping Flare up, Kaeton proceeded to his spirit wolf. He put his hand to its head, his blue spiritual tattoos glowing. The wolf dissipated into mist, which Kaeton absorbed, along with the information the spirit creature had gained.

Kaeton stood up and looked back at Flare. She had put her helmet back on, and she looked more confident. Her bow was strapped to her back, and her sword hanging from her waist.

"Ready for our visitors?" The Shaman asked.

"Ready," was Flare's reply.

Central Underground

Lake Cavern

"What's taking so long?" Arachne complained, "We're out in the open here. I'd rather not get killed permanently."

"The Yellows likely hid deeper in the caves," Darius assumed, "They will be here soon. That is, if they actually have anything to say."

"That we do."

The voice of Kaeton made the Blue team's heads to turn in his direction, right behind them. The Shaman had a neutral face, his hands at his side. To his left, a spirit wolf sat, looking at the Blues with curiosity. Behind him was Flare, who also showed no intention to attack. Though they weren't as tired as the Blues, probably because they had been hiding since their Wither died instead of wandering around aimlessly, their armor was worse than theirs. Just looking at the state of the armor

"Well, actually just me," Kaeton added, "But I assure you, its worth your time."

"Then speak," Darius said.

Kaeton took a breath, then began, "We need to go on the offensive."

Darius looked at him with a face of confusion, "That's suicide."

"Perhaps," Kaeton admitted, "But despite our mortality, we, united, have the most influence over the course of this game."

"Just because we have the number advantage, I presume?" Arachne assumed, "Our numbers don't matter because as long as they can respawn, they might as well have an army of infinite count."

"Two gods and their nigh-unstoppable servants against a slow-moving automaton who doesn't realize he's mortal, two exhausted warrior-queens, a weary mage, and a magic user low on energy," Darius noted, frowning "I'm not seeing how we're the game changers here."

"Well, those two gods aren't exactly on the best of terms," Kaeton pointed out, "We have what they don't: unity."

Kaeton realized what he had said wasn't as accurate as it was in his head. An awkward pause filled the space as the others realized as well.

"Well, at least more united then them," Kaeton corrected himself, "They're actively trying to kill each other."

Flare and Arachne looked at each other and shrugged. Having worked together in the past, the two queens agreed.

"Continue," Darius said.

"Alright," Kaeton replied. He took another breath.

"Null and Herobrine both don't see us as threats, and are focusing their efforts on each other. We can either sneak past or overwhelm one of teams defenses and take down their Wither."

"Leaving the final team to finish us off," Darius finished with a negative tone, "Did you think about that part?"

Kaeton stood silent for awhile, before admitting, "Not really."

"So who are we targeting?"

Arachne's voice surprised everyone.

"You agree with this plan?" Darius asked with shock in his voice.

"It's our best option," the Spider Queen reasoned, "With the two other teams fighting each other, we might even be able to sneak past both of their defenses and even the playing field for all of us."

The points that Arachne revealed left the others thinking silently, but Arachne spoke again.

"Besides, do you really think we can win this?"

"Don't think like that," Darius silenced. But Arachne wouldn't be silent.

"No, seriously you already noted our odds earlier. The most likely future doesn't see us living to fight another day."

"Those gods can kill us. It's highly unlikely we can kill one of them. But what we can do is determine which one of them will prevail by leaving them weaker than the other. And if we do proceed, I know one of those deities would quicker destroy anything and everything out there than give Hypixel a favor."

"So what will we do," Arachne concluded, "Tell me. Are we going to stay here and hope they don't find us? Or are we going to ensure that what happens next will be beneficial for all of us?"

Red Outer Walls

Dreadlord Null stood, sword in the ground, silently waiting for his allies to arrive. He felt his power returning to him. Killing the pigman had given him the greater strength he had before his imprisonment. It was a shame the diamond armor was unrecoverable, but the power boost was still appreciated.

"Master," a growl behind him called.

Shade had arrived, Fracture at his side. They were both fully armored, and ready for battle. Their enchanted weaponry glowed a dark purple. Null turned to meet his followers. Shade saluted before speaking.

"We are ready to assault Herobrine, as you commanded."

"Good," Null said, turning again. "Then let us finish this."

As he turned, he saw figures in the distance. The gray-blue armor of the first individual was a surprisingly enough standing next to a brownish silhouette in unity. They weren't fighting, they were uniting. And judging from the way they faced, Null figured they were uniting against him in particular.

"Change of plans."

Null turned to his servants to relay commands.

"Kill them for good, they are proving to be a thorn in my side. From there, proceed to take the Green Wither, as planned. I will stay to defend our Wither from any threats. Kill anyone in your way, but bring Herobrine to me. I will deal with him personally."

Shade and Fracture nodded, and went off to war. Null watched them go off before beginning his way back to his castle. The endgame was nigh, and the Dreadlord was ready to kill all who stood in his way.


End file.
